During this S. T. and L. A. period Daniel DeLeon looked upon revolutionary unionism as being necessarily pro-political rather than pro-industrial and non-political. He then felt that the political movement must dominate the unions as they are in Germany dominated by the Social Democracy. He later became convinced that revolutionary unionism must dominate the political movement, and that the revolutionary union had a decisive mission in the Socialist movement.
The S. T. and L. A. [says Fraina] was largely a weapon to fight conservative A. F. of L. politics. The friends of the A. F. of L. roared in protest and ... split the Socialist movement to save the A. F. of L.... DeLeon's revolutionary unionism was largely a means to prevent the socialist political movement [from] being controlled by the Aristocracy of Labor and the Middle Class—two social groups which ... have certain interests in common and against the revolutionary proletariat.[68]
The composition and membership of the S. T. and L. A. in July, 1898, were as follows:
| German Waiters | 260 | |
| Ale and Porter Union | 200 | |
| United Engineers | 60 | |
| Marquette Workers | 70 | |
| Carl Sahm Club | 80 | |
| Piano Makers | 520 | |
| Bohemian Butchers | 150 | |
| Bartenders | 90 | |
| Furriers | 250 | |
| Silver Workers | 40 | |
| Empire City Lodge | 35 | |
| New York Cooks | 55 | |
| German Coppersmiths | 80 | |
| Macaroni Workers | 65 | |
| Progressive Cigarette Makers | 970 | |
| Bohemian Typographia | 32 | |
| Swedish Machinists | 98 | |
| Progressive Typographia | 15 | |
| Pressmen and Feeders | 18 | |
| Independent Bakers No. 33 | 60 | |
| Independent Bakers No. 25 | 45 | |
| Liberty Waiters | 65 | |
| 3,258 | [69] |
Far from being superior to the old [craft] organization(s), [says Stone] it is very much inferior.... With an insignificant membership, without controlling as much as a large factory, not to speak of a trade, at war not only with the bosses, ... but with every trade union which does not come under its mighty wing—it was unable to undertake any step of importance, in order to improve the condition of its members. The only strike of significance which it had, that at Slatersville [Rhode Island] was a failure after it had cost the Party about $1,500....[70]
The Alliance was scarcely more than a phantom organization on the eve of the launching of the I. W. W. in 1905. The same may be said of all the western unions which in that year merged in the I. W. W., except the Western Federation of Miners. The S. L. P. and the S. T. and L. A. "talk of capturing the convention to be held on June 27 [the 1st I. W. W. convention].... That convention should be not a revival, but the funeral, of the S. T. and L. A."[71] This expressed fairly well the attitude of the Socialist party men. "Born in hatred, suckled in dissension," as one socialist writer sees it, "the sole partisan trade union that ever arose to deny the principles and policies of international socialism came to destruction by its own venom, not however, until it had implanted the poison of its spirit into the Industrial Workers of the World."[72]
The main ideas of I. W. W.-ism—certainly of the I. W. W.-ism of the first few years after 1905—were of American origin, not French, as is commonly supposed. These sentiments were brewing in France, it is true, in the early nineties,[73] but they were brewing also in this country and the American brew was essentially different from the French. It was only after 1908 that the syndicalisme révolutionnaire of France had any direct influence on the revolutionary industrial unionist movement here. Even then it was largely a matter of borrowing such phrases as sabotage, la grève perlée, etc. The tactics back of the words sabotage and "direct action" had been practiced by American working men years before those words ever came into use among our radical unionists. "The Western Labor Union," says Walling, "was applying these principles in the Rocky Mountains, under the leadership of Haywood and others, several years before the French Confederation of Labor was formed...."[74] Some premonition of the power of a labor union including all—or even a large proportion of—the unskilled was given by the Western Federation of Miners, the American Labor Union, the American Railway Union, and other American organizations already referred to.
During the first five years of this century the idea of militant industrial unionism underwent rapid development. Unionists were coming to have a much broader view of the social rôle of the labor union. The actual trend of events opened the way for reorganization on new lines. The organizations which were to make up the I. W. W. were almost without exception in unprosperous straits, some of them being on the verge of disruption. All of them were bitter in their opposition to the American Federation of Labor—with which organization, indeed, few of them were affiliated. The United Metal Workers had been affiliated but withdrew in December, 1904. There was probably little left but a remnant when they joined the I. W. W. the following year. The same is true of the United Brotherhood of Railway Employees. Even the American Labor Union—except its "mining division," the W. F. M.—was skirting the edge of dissolution.[75] The Socialist Labor party and its "puny child," the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance, were in a bad way. Among the United Mine Workers there was dissension in many localities. There was dissatisfaction with the leaders and especially with the upshot of the strike settlement of 1902. Moreover, the miners as well as the United Brewery Workmen were embittered by constant criticism of their industrial form of organization. The latter were threatened with the prospect of a revocation of their charter by the Federation. There were thus a number of "national" organizations and many locals in other bodies which were anxious to create some central labor organization to strengthen the forces of industrial unionism. The Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance, though on the decline, still included a considerable body of workers who were impatient of the conservatism of the A. F. of L. and desired somehow to build up a strong revolutionary (this meaning for them a Marxian socialist) organization. The Western Federation of Miners—stronger than all the others put together—was not excelled by any of them in its revolutionary zeal. It had the power as well as the enthusiasm. Moreover, it represented revolutionary industrial unionism more completely than did the smaller unions in the West and the Alliance in the East. The Alliance, in fact, was a revolutionary union without the industrial character and without much real appreciation of the meaning and importance of the idea of industrial as opposed to craft organization. The miners, however, had a big, powerful union of an emphatically industrial character and their experience had made them very militant.[76]
Much of this hard experience consisted in a gradual process of disillusionment about the virtue and goodness of the state so far as its relations with labor were concerned. The long series of violent and protracted strikes between the Western Federation and the mine operators and the rôle played therein by the state government convinced the miners that they would be more successful in gaining their political ends if they had more economic power to back up their requests. The miners were convinced, therefore, that the imperative need of the hour was for the extension to other industries of their type of industrial organization inspired by socialist aims. This would make solidarity possible, not only between skilled and unskilled in the metalliferous mines but also in all mines, all shops, all industries. They felt that then indeed would an injury to one be the concern of all.[77]